Economists see a pick up in industrial growth in March largely due to an increase in core sector growth. Growth in India's eight core industries, which account for 40.3 per cent of the total weight in the Index of Industrial Production, rose to 4.7 per cent in March from 2.2 per cent in February.

New Delhi: India's industrial growth is likely to have risen to 1.6 per cent in March from 0.1 per cent a month ago, according to 12 economists polled by Cogencis.

In March 2018, industrial growth was 5.3 per cent.

The Central Statistics Office will detail industrial production data for March at 1730 IST on Friday.

Economists see a pick up in industrial growth in March largely due to an increase in core sector growth. Growth in India's eight core industries, which account for 40.3 per cent of the total weight in the Index of Industrial Production, rose to 4.7 per cent in March from 2.2 per cent in February.

Further, merchandise exports increased at a faster pace in the last month of 2018-19 (Apr-Mar), posting a growth of 11.0 per cent, up from 2.4 per cent the previous month.

However, other high-frequency indicators suggest limited improvement in industrial growth.

"All leading indicators of industrial activity show continued weaknesses on the back of slower increase in new orders amid electoral uncertainty. Automobile companies are staring at a massive build-up of inventories of unsold units with their dealerships," said Rupa Rege Nitsure, group chief economist at L&T Financial Services.

India's Purchasing Managers' Index for manufacturing fell from February's 14-month high of 54.3 to 52.6 in March as the rate of job creation in the manufacturing sector fell to an eight-month low while new orders grew at their slowest pace in six months.